The Press: Land of the Living Dead

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After the series started, circulation of the Daily News (514,627) jumped as much as 20,000 copies a day. Thus publicly put on the spot, police and health officials took hasty action. They shut down 56 saloons and restaurants pinpointed in the Daily News series, until they complied with the laws. But even with the heat on, Mooney and Bird found 32 drunks sprawled on Skid Row in a ten-minute walk. Police Commissioner John Prendergast threw up his hands: "What can we do? Arrest them all? The Bridewell [prison] is full." It looked as if it would take a lot more stories to stir Chicagoans into cleaning up Skid Row.

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